India's 100 richest amassed $25bn more wealth in 2022: Forbes
While the rupee has weakened, raising concerns of inflation and looming recession for the rest of the Indians, it has seemingly no effect on the country's richest bunch. A report by Forbes India shows that the combined wealth of India's 100 wealthiest people increased by $25 billion to reach a whopping $800 billion. The increase is largely attributed to Gautam Adani's soaring wealth.
Why does this story matter?
As the world battled the COVID-19-induced slump, the wealth of the world's 10 richest men doubled since the beginning of the pandemic, showed an Oxfam report, highlighting the growing income inequality. Its India-specific report, updated in September this year, showed that the top 10% of our country holds 77% of the total national wealth, of which 73% was generated by the top 1%.
Adani's wealth increase had a cumulative effect on the list
After seeing a three-times increase in his wealth in 2021, Adani's fortune doubled this year to $150 billion, making him the country's richest person and, for a short span, the world's second-richest. The infrastructure tycoon, who owns the country's largest port in Gujarat's Mundra, earlier announced his plans of investing $100 billion over the next decade, aiming 70% of it at green energy.
Ambani second despite 5% dip
Next on the list is Mukesh Ambani, who controls Reliance Industries—the owner of Network18 which publishes Forbes India. His wealth has been pegged at $88 billion, which is down 5% from last year. The oil and telecom giant's conglomerate is a Fortune Global 500 company and is the country's most valuable in terms of market value. He is Asia's second-richest person and the world's ninth-richest.
Adani and Ambani together account for 30% wealth
Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani are said to collectively account for nearly 30% of the total wealth of the rich in the country. The top 10 richest persons in India are worth $385 billion.
DMart's Radhakishan Damani, Serum Institute's Cyrus Poonawalla trail Ambani
Trailing Ambani is retail baron Radhakishan Damani, owner of the DMart supermarket chain, despite his net worth declining by 6% to $27.6 billion. Bumper profits from COVID-19 vaccines catapulted Serum Institute of India's founder Cyrus Poonawalla to the fourth spot with $21.5 billion. Based in Pune, the company is the world's largest manufacturer of vaccines, while the conglomerate is involved in various sectors.
Savitri Jindal, Falguni Nayar, Anand Mahindra also on the list
The only woman billionaire and chairman of OP Jindal Group, Savitri Jindal, is next on the list with $16.4 billion. Anand Mahindra has made a comeback in the list following the launch of Mahindra and Mahindra's electric vehicles. Nykaa's Falguni Nayar, ethnic garments maker Ravi Modi, and Rafique Malik of Metro Brands are among the nine new faces on the list.
